Celebrate An Independent Christmas
Clare Rayner's new campaign encourages indies to work with other local businesses.

By Suzanna Bain.

August 2012.

Retailers are being urged to sign up for the 'Celebrate An Independent Christmas' campaign, a spin-off from Independent Retailer month.

Clare Rayner, The Retail Champion and UK Lead for Independent Retailer Month, is launching the new campaign to encourage retailers to work collaboratively in their community.

The focus of the campaign, which will run from November 12, 2012, is on engaging local indies to create fun 'activation events' that will have a positive social and economic impact in their local area.

Its aim is to improve footfall on high streets and in towns and village centres, to increase consumer confidence and boost retail sales.

Retailers can get support from 'local activation partners', to help them and other consumer-facing businesses deliver Christmas shopping crawls.

They can also sign up for a kick-start event in October, in either London or Manchester.

"Christmas is the perfect opportunity to give independent businesses a real boost in sales, with many already achieving more than 30 per cent of their annual sales in the six weeks before Christmas," says Clare Rayner, founder of the Celebrate An Independent Christmas campaign.

"Increasing sales during what is already a peak period could make a significant difference to their bottom line," she continues. 

"They have the opportunity to introduce new customers to their product ranges, to give them a sample of their services, or just to increase consumer awareness of their existence," she explains. 

"The first step in re-engaging disenchanted consumers with the high street is to give them a good reason to visit; the next step is for the businesses trading there to showcase what they’ve been missing out on - and Christmas shopping crawls, if well implemented, can deliver exactly that," Rayner concludes.

• Celebrate an Independent Christmas is supported by a wide range of business organisations and aims to reach consumers with the support of local press, media, councils and the retailers themselves.
• The campaign will run for the six weeks prior to Christmas day, from November 12, 2012.
• Consumers will be encouraged to spend a proportion of their Christmas budgets - be that on gift and food shopping, partying or pampering - with local independent businesses.
• The campaign will be inclusive of all those who serve consumers – so bars, restaurants and salons as well as traditional shops.
• The message to consumers is that buying from indies typically guarantees them a more unique and personal experience.
• The Celebrate An Independent Christmas website has more information and bookings are already being taken for the Manchester and London kick-start events.